


Time's a Gift

by oodal (softkyun)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Flashbacks, Flowers, M/M, Old Age, Red Roses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 11:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1509671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softkyun/pseuds/oodal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagami would've never pegged Aomine as the kind of guy who liked red roses, but then again, he never expected Aomine to give him life-long advice, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time's a Gift

When Kagami steps into the florist’s, the familiar sound of bells jingles above him, welcoming him into a place that he’s been far too many times to count. The old woman who runs the place isn’t out front, at least not where Kagami can see; she’s probably elbow-deep in the soil in the back, where she’s allowed Kagami a few times in to see the newest buds, to show him where the newest pushes of life have begun to grow. Kagami’s never been a big flower man – or at least, he didn’t think himself one for most of his life – but being older has taught him to appreciate beautiful things. As a teenager, and even a young adult, he found beauty in ferocity, in wild, untamed energy and the dangerous glints of mischievous eyes.

Alone in the front of the store, Kagami trails his fingers across the slightly dusty windowsill and smiles fondly to himself, thinking of his husband. He’d fallen in love with the temptation at first; Aomine Daiki had hit him like a hurricane hits a house - it seems okay at first, until you realize that the shingles have been torn away and that nothing but the exposed core remains, touched and irrevocably marked. Kagami had been touched by Aomine the first time they’d ever met, but if someone had told him that he would be married to that idiot one day… Kagami could only imagine how we would’ve reacted back then, a bundle of hot nerves raring to go and a sharp tongue waiting for the opportunity to tear into someone, something.

Putting his tongue to good use hadn’t exactly been a deterrent, either, considering the way that the relationship had bloomed with uncertainty in the emotional department, but with utmost confidence in the physicality they shared. If Kagami still got flustered over things like that, he might find himself blushing as he recalled memories of he and his lover’s earliest stages of dating, but instead, he just laughs and touches his temples, as if it might soothe the memories that spring there. What fools, the two of them had been….

\---

_”Ahomine!”_

_“Fuck you, I told you not to call me that!”_

_“I told you not to suck my soul out when we’re in front of other people!”_

_Kagami stormed after Aomine, glad that Aomine’s parents weren’t home as he took the stairs two at a time to keep the dark-skinned male’s rapid pace. He barely got his foot in the door when Aomine tried to slam it on him; he had to force it open, only to find himself face to face with an infuriated ace. Aomine’s chest heaved as he stared Kagami down, his eyes narrowed and violent, his face flushed with emotion._

_“Why the fuck did you even think that was okay?”_

Their language always got bad when they were particularly pissed, Kagami realizes years later when he’s trying to figure out how in the hell the two of them ever managed to communicate.

_”He was just hanging all over you!” Aomine might as well have been foaming at the mouth, his hands clenching vividly at his sides and his weight shifting back and forth from each foot as if he might throw his fists up and fight at any moment._

_“What are you even talking about?!” Kagami’s tone was accusatory as he leaned in towards Aomine, eyes flashing as he asked – no, demanded –answers._

_“You always let Himuro rub himself all over you, god, it’s disgusting!”_

_Kagami paused, anger melting out of him instantaneously._

_“That’s what this is about? Not again, Aomine, seriously. Seriously.”_

_Aomine tensed like a wounded animal, arms shifting to cross over his chest as he took a defensive step backward. His chin raised and he stared Kagami down like he was challenging him, trying to get him to say another word. Kagami rolled his eyes and stepped forward, pressing one hand against Aomine’s cheek and shaking his head._

_“Shit, your jealousy is great and all, a real turn-on. But Tatsuya’s my brother. I promise.”_

_Kagami leaned in to kiss Aomine’s cheek, and Aomine pretended that he wasn’t embarrassed, hurt, and sensitive. It was a common occurrence._

\---

“Mr. Taiga. Mr Taiga!”

Kagami jerks his head back from the window, turning to face a familiar voice. The old woman is standing behind the counter with a smile, her gloved hands predictably covered in potting soil. Kagami smiles faintly at her, raising a hand to rub at the back of his head.

“Ah, spacing out. Old age, and all that. Not that you would know, miss.”

He winks stupidly after he makes the remark, and the old woman waves a hand towards him as she shushes him. 

“I’m guessing the usual? I’ll have to return to the back to put it together, but it won’t take long.” Kagami nods in answer to her question, and steps up to the counter to wait. He flips through one of the wedding books, pictures of endless flower arrangements and their fancy names detailed on every page. Aomine hadn’t wanted flowers at the wedding – his mother had always dreamed of fancy wedding flowers, and considering how Aomine had fallen out with his parents after he’d come out… Well, Kagami had conceded on that one, or thought he had. He remembers, with a fond curl of his lips, how Aomine stubbornly put one flower – only one! – in the center of each table arrangement, with the help of Momoi, of course. She’d been their impromptu wedding planner, so to speak, since both of them hadn’t had anything in mind when they’d decided on getting married.

His right hand drifts to his left to twist the ring there, and he continues to do so until the woman comes back to him, offering him a bouquet of Aomine’s favorite flowers. As much as he protested flowers, Aomine had always had a soft spot for red roses – well, not always. Kagami chuckles as he recalls the drunken night of their honeymoon (one of many, actually) when Aomine confessed that he liked red roses because they reminded him of Kagami’s hair.

To call Aomine a sentimental fool was right on the money. 

But then again, Kagami is the one buying them right now. The elderly woman comes out and passes them to Kagami, and Kagami tries to ignore the tremor in his hands as he takes them. His hands have been shaking for years now; Aomine always kissed his knuckles and told him he shouldn’t have played so much basketball. That idiot was the one who played too much basketball – well, maybe both of them did. Either way.

Kagami hands over his card and waits to be rung up; it doesn’t take long, considering it’s only a single bouquet and he’s the only customer in the store. After he thanks the woman and moves to the door, she calls out to him to tell him to watch the weather – it looks like it might rain. Kagami thanks her again as he heads to the small parking lot right by the quaint florist’s, slipping into the driver’s seat and setting the flowers in the passenger side, where Aomine’s favorite black coat is thrown haphazardly over the headrest. 

It is going to rain, Kagami thinks to himself as he reaches down absentmindedly with one hand to massage at his left knee. That knee in particularly always seems to hurt the most when rain comes; perhaps all of his joints do, but that one hurts the most. Kagami could really go for one of those massages right now, even if he knows that Aomine won’t give him a straight forward answer if he asks later today. 

Sure enough, it begins to drizzle as Kagami drives, washing the pickup truck with late summer rain. It was muggy as hell outside; late August was never a good time for weather, but the afternoon drizzle would at least ease the heat a little bit. Kagami still isn’t entirely sure why Aomine decided that he wanted to live in California when they moved to the States after high school, but the familiar Los Angeles weather has been a comfort to Kagami when he needs it most.

Kagami’s fingers are even aching by the time he pulls the truck into the parking lot at what is now Aomine’s place, stiff and sore when he picks up the roses. If he could go back and tell his younger self one thing, it would be to take better care of his injuries…

\---

_”The doctor said to ice it! You broke three out of your five fingers and you’re concussed!”_

_Aomine’s voice barely broke through the haze that surrounded Kagami’s brain. He flinched as he turned over on his side, their beat up old couch bowing under his weight. Why was Aomine so loud? He stares blearily at his boyfriend, who loomed over him like a storm cloud. What was Aomine talking about, again? Ah… icing his fingers._

_“Ice is cold.” Kagami grumbled, and Aomine might’ve laughed had the situation not been serious._

_“Yeah, and I’m hot as shit. Now that we’ve stated the obvious, put the goddamn ice on your fingers. I can’t split ‘em until the swelling goes down.” Aomine’s voice is so loud – so loud. Kagami groaned half-heartedly and turned his cheek into the cushion of the couch, where it remained until Aomine reached down to touch his hair gently._

_“Kagami, come on. Just deal with me a little longer, and then we’ll get you up and into bed so you can rest, okay?” Aomine informed him gently, voice warm, and Kagami nodded slowly, as much as his neck would allow when his cheek was pressed into the couch, at least._

_By the time Aomine returned, Kagami was out like a light, and Aomine didn’t have the heart to wake him. Kagami’s fingers don’t ever get iced, the bag of frozen peas left forgotten on the coffee table, Aomine’s hands occupied by the blankets he spread over Kagami and the fleeting kiss he left on Kagami’s forehead. He’d make sure that Kagami did it tomorrow._

_He didn’t, because he caved at one well-timed pout._

\---

Kagami’s ankles crack when he steps down onto the pavement, and he takes a moment to stretch while he’s still under the cover of the trees above him. It doesn’t block all the rain, but it at least keeps most of it off of him; as soon as he begins his walk over to go see Aomine, the droplets fall fat and hard onto his shoulders and his hair. He should’ve paid more attention to the weather, and picked up an umbrella before; that was Aomine’s job, really. Kagami had lost count of the amount of times they’d shared umbrellas because he never remembered to grab one.

Pulling the roses tight to his chest, Kagami can’t help but grin as he sees Aomine in the distance, unable to keep the fond expression off of his face. Aomine doesn’t come to meet him, but that’s okay; Aomine’s joints went bad first, enough that he tended to stay bedridden on days like these, or at least chair-bound. It was with an angry shout that Aomine had first protested that, but when he’d realized that those sort of days meant movies and coddling, he hadn’t been as quick to complain.

“Aomine.” Kagami breathes out softly, the gentle prayer of Aomine’s name nearly lost in the wind. He loosens his grip on the bouquet and sets them softly out for Aomine, and although his knees protest the movement, he crouches as he does it. The rain is falling harder now, and it makes it harder for Kagami to hear Aomine properly, but that’s okay, because Aomine doesn’t say too much that Kagami doesn’t already know for himself.

“These are for you.” Kagami hums, tracing the dampened petal of the prettiest central rose. He pulls on the white ribbon that the old florist tied them together with, and then glances back at Aomine, eyes crinkling as he smiles again at him.

“I was thinking earlier that I never would have pegged you to be a ‘roses’ kind of guy.” Kagami has made this confession time and time again, and he will do it even more. 

“I wonder if you thought this is where we’d end up, y’know?” Kagami asks, mostly for himself as he traces the gentle ridges of the ribbons. He raises one hand to trace against Aomine, fingers dipping down across the imperfect surface.

“Happy birthday.” 

\---

_”You couldn’t have gotten me a better cake?”_

_“What, did you want teriyaki-flavored?”_

_“You’re the worst husband ever.”_

_Kagami snorted and leaned in to shove the cake further across their kitchen table towards Aomine. Their cat sniffed absentmindedly at it before waltzing back off of the table, curling up in the chair with her back to them as if telling them that they were being fools. But, weren’t they always?_

_“Blow out the candles.”_

_Aomine quirked an eyebrow at him, but leaned in anyways to blow out the two candles that Kagami had set up – 30. God, what a year. He couldn’t believe that Aomine was 30 fucking years old. But then again, so was Kagami, considering that they’d just celebrated his own birthday a couple of weeks ago._

_“What’d you wish for?” Kagami asked when the smoke began to clear, and Aomine looked incredulously towards the redhead._

_“If I tell you, it won’t come true.” He responded stubbornly, but after a round of bantering and begging, he caved._

_“I just wished for birthdays like this again. Many more, actually, and all of them with you. Time’s a gift, all that shitty stuff.”_

_Kagami blinked in surprise, and then leaned back to stare up at the ceiling where the last wisps of wishes began to dissolve._

_“I’d like that, too.” He murmured in response._

\---

In the muggy and rainy August air, Kagami lets his fingers trail over the sharp edges of Aomine’s name where they rest against the gravestone. Despite the protest his body gives him, he leans forwards to press his wrinkled forehead against the cool marble, such a contrast to the hot air around him, and sighs.

“At least your wish came true.” Kagami’s voice has cracked, no matter how many times he has told himself that every birthday with Aomine was a gift, and that even though he has had to celebrate too many of his own alone, that it didn’t make any of the others more significant.

“Maybe if I wouldn’t have asked you to tell me, it would’ve come true for me, too.” Kagami jokes weakly, head dipping down towards the ground. 

He pretends that it’s only the rain that he feels on his cheeks, because he can hear Aomine, even now:

_”Idiot, don’t cry. You’ll be fine. Don’t forget to feed the cats, and don’t let Momoi cook you any food for the funeral, okay?”_

_Kagami shook as he leaned over the hospital bed and rest his ear against Aomine’s chest, where a heartbeat still rest to comfort him. His sobs shook Aomine where he lay, and yet and still, Aomine didn’t cry, his hand a heavy weight on Kagami’s shoulder, reassuring him._

_“Time’s a gift – even if it’s not with me.”_

Kagami takes those very words to his grave, and it is with crisp, sharp lines that they are written on the headstone that matches his husband’s beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> well, i think i actually made myself tear up a little with this one. i've just been seeing too many sad and old aokaga headcanons not to write something about it. i hope you liked this!


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